How to communicate

“One clear communication should be agreed by all stakeholders involved. This will ensure that the recipients trust and engage with the information. Often a communication about a significant event will require collaboration between the IT department and/or the central communication unit and your institution’s senior management team.

The communication should be homogenous and seamless, so that wherever it is being disseminated or consumed - at other campuses, on the ground at service desks, over the phone, on the other side of the world - it is an authoritative, single source. This reduces the possibility of misinterpretation. Ensure the content is consistent with the branding of your department and wider organisation, and check that you have followed any policies your institution may have on how to communicate significant events.

The next step is to think who is the best person or group to give the message. If you found that your institution’s VLE was unavailable during an assignment deadline window, you may want to send an all staff/student email explaining the lack of service and detailing how to arrange an extension to submission deadlines. In this instance the communication would inspire more confidence if sent by a senior academic colleague, than from IT Services.”

Emma Barwell | IT Information and Communications Manager, Oxford Brookes University